1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to ice rescues sleds and in partucular to a lightweight amphibious ice rescue sled formed of an aluminum shell tapered at both ends with built-in bottom runners, an end handle and foam and baffles inside the shell.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Accidents involving individuals, especially children, falling through thin ice take many lives each year, primarily because resue teams are not equipped with a device which moves quickly over ice and through the water and which readily moves from the water back up onto the ice.
Prior art motorized vehicles designed to travel over ice, including hover-type vehicles, are difficult to maneuver in the water for rescue operations. They are also expensive and require a substantial trailer to carry the heavy vehicles to the scene of an accident. Often the terrain does not permit driving a vehicle with a trailer in tow to the scene.
Proir art ice-type sleds are generally quite heavy and cumbersome rquiring considerable effort to carry the sleds and cutting down on the speen of the sleds over the ice making it diffcult or impossible to make the transition from the water to the broken ice and quickly.
Some prior art devices require the rescuer to run over the ice pushing the sled with hazards of slipping or falling into the water through the ice and becoming immobilized because of the heavy load distribution of the feet on the ice.
Many of the prior art devices are thick and bulky and do not permit easy manpulation or propelling of the devices with the rescuer riding on the devices.
Most prior art devices are propelled over the ice by means of ice picks stroking on the ice by hand. The ice picks easily break through thin ice by virtue of their very design. Each stroke in which the pick breaks through the ice the force of the stroke is lost and there is no effective prepulsion through the water, losing momentum and interrupting the forward movement of the device.